al-Nasa’i said, “The trustees of Allah over the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) are Shuʿbah, Malik, and Yahya al-Qattan.”

Muhammad ibn Bundar al-Jurjani related: “I asked Ibn al-Madini, ‘Of all the people you have met, who has been the most beneficial to Islam and its people?’ He replied, ‘Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Qattan.’”

Ahmad ibn Hanbal declared, “With Yahya al-Qattan painstaking verification reaches its utmost limit.”

Muhammad ibn Abi Safwan said, “Yahya al-Qattan’s daily expenses came from the yield of his property: if the revenue arrived as wheat, he ate wheat; if it arrived as barley, he ate barley; and if it arrived as dates, he ate dates.”

Yahya ibn Maʿin said, “For 40 years Yahya ibn Saʿid never let the sun pass its zenith without being in the mosque.”

ʿAffan ibn Muslim reported, “A man saw—shortly before Yahya ibn Saʿid died—that he should be given the glad tidings: ‘Give Yahya ibn Saʿid the news of security from Allah on the Day of Resurrection.’”

Ahmad remarked, “I have never seen anyone who made fewer mistakes than Yahya ibn Saʿid, though he did err in some reports. But who is entirely free of mistakes and scribal slips?”

Ahmad ibn ʿAbd Allah al-ʿIjli said, “Yahya ibn Saʿid’s narrations were pristine; he would transmit only from a trustworthy narrator.”

Abu Qudamah al-Sarakhsi related: “I heard Yahya ibn Saʿid say, ‘I fear that pursuing every last wording will impose hardship on people, for the Quran—though more sacred—has been permitted to be recited in several modes so long as the meaning is one.’”